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ISIS just 'bulldozed' the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud

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  • ISIS just 'bulldozed' the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud

    Source: Business Insider


    The Islamic State group began bulldozing the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq, the government said, in the jihadists' latest attack on the country's historical heritage.

    The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, "assaulted the historic city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy vehicles," the tourism and antiquities ministry said on an official Facebook page.

    An Iraqi antiquities official confirmed the news, saying the destruction began after noon prayers on Thursday and that trucks that may have been used to haul away artifacts had also been spotted at the site.

    "Until now, we do not know to what extent it was destroyed," the official said on condition of anonymity.

    Nimrud, one of the jewels of the Assyrian era, was founded in the 13th century B.C. and lies on the Tigris River about 30 kilometers (18 miles) southeast of Mosul, Iraq's second-biggest city and the main hub of ISIS in the country.

    "I'm sorry to say everybody was expecting this. Their plan is to destroy Iraqi heritage, one site at a time," said Abdulamir Hamdani, an Iraqi archaeologist from Stony Brook University.

    "Hatra of course will be next," he said, referring to a beautifully preserved city in Nineveh province that is more than 2,000 years old and is a Unesco world heritage site.

    "I'm really devastated. But it was just a matter of time," he said.

    Nimrud is the site of what was described as one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century when a team unearthed a collection of jewels and precious stones in 1988.

    The jewels were briefly displayed at the Iraqi national museum before disappearing from public view, but they survived the looting that followed the 2003 US invasion and were eventually found in a Central Bank building.

    Most of Nimrud's priceless artifacts have long been moved to museums, in Mosul, Baghdad, Paris, London, and elsewhere, but giant "lamassu" statues — winged bulls with human heads — and reliefs were still on site.

    The destruction at Nimrud on Thursday came a week after the jihadist group released a video showing militants armed with sledgehammers and jackhammers smashing priceless ancient artifacts at the Mosul museum.

    That attack sparked widespread consternation and alarm, with some archaeologists and heritage experts comparing it with the 2001 demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

    In the jihadists' extreme interpretation of Islam, statues, idols, and shrines amount to recognizing other objects of worship than God and must be destroyed.

    The video released by ISIS last week showed militants knocking statues off their plinths and rampaging through the Mosul museum's collection.

    It also shows jihadists using a jackhammer to deface an imposing granite Assyrian winged bull at the Nergal Gate in Mosul.

    "These artifacts behind me are idols for people from ancient times who worshipped them instead of God," a bearded militant said in the video.

    "The prophet removed and buried the idols in Mecca with his blessed hands," he said, referring to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

    Many of the artifacts destroyed in the Mosul museum were from Nimrud and Hatra.

    Unesco director general Irina Bokova demanded an emergency meeting of the Security Council and called for the International Criminal Court to look into the Mosul museum destruction.

    ISIS spearheaded a sweeping offensive last June that overran Nineveh province, where Mosul and Nimrud are located, and swept through much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland.

    The Mosul region was home to a mosaic of minorities, including the Assyrian Christians, who consider themselves to be the region's indigenous people.

    ISIS has systematically destroyed heritage sites, including Sunni Muslim shrines that it also considers heretical, in areas it controls, and repeatedly attacked members of religious minorities.

    Iraqi security forces and allied fighters are battling to regain ground from the jihadists with backing from an international anti-ISIS coalition as well as neighboring Iran.

    But major operations to drive ISIS out of Nineveh are likely months away, leaving the province's irreplaceable historical sites at the mercy of militants who have no regard for Iraq's past.


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    Sigh. I hope something is done soon. Before we lose most of these sites.
    "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." ― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)

  • #2
    But they are the jay vee team...
    That's what
    - She

    Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
    - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

    I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
    - Stephen R. Donaldson

    Comment


    • #3
      Barbarians, nothing more need be said.

      Comment


      • #4
        Like a knife-stab to the heart....

        Comment


        • #5
          They just don't care about anything involving history or lineage its all selfishness.
          A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
          George Bernard Shaw

          Comment


          • #6
            I get the feeling Iran hates Isis....
            A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
            George Bernard Shaw

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Catholicity View Post
              I get the feeling Iran hates Isis....
              Aside from the fact that Iran is Shia whereas ISIS is Sunni[1], ISIS stands in their way of controlling Iraq and are trying to overthrow Syria which is often regarded as Iran's closest ally.








              1. although Iran has shown that they have no problem assisting Sunni terrorists like Hamas when it suits them

              I'm always still in trouble again

              "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
              "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
              "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                Aside from the fact that Iran is Shia whereas ISIS is Sunni[1], ISIS stands in their way of controlling Iraq and are trying to overthrow Syria which is often regarded as Iran's closest ally.








                1. although Iran has shown that they have no problem assisting Sunni terrorists like Hamas when it suits them
                Well that has been the Persian Empire's history to a certain extent. Be the friend of the person with the most money...
                A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
                George Bernard Shaw

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Catholicity View Post
                  Well that has been the Persian Empire's history to a certain extent. Be the friend of the person with the most money...
                  "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12

                  There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    But why are they trying so hard to piss off their own muslim people? It's their heritage too.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      For the sarcastically impaired the following is said in jest

                      Yeah, bring charges against them before the ICC! That'll show them!



                      Originally posted by Sparko
                      But why are they trying so hard to piss off their own muslim people? It's their heritage too.
                      Because they don't consider them legitimately "muslim," so they don't care what they think. In the world of Islam, this is nothing new.
                      Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

                      Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
                      sigpic
                      I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                        But why are they trying so hard to piss off their own muslim people? It's their heritage too.
                        That's just it, they don't consider it part of their heritage. Sort of like how the Taliban didn't consider the Buddhas of Bamiyan part of their heritage when they destroyed them. They regard them as pagan symbols only worthy of being obliterated.

                        Many in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt have announced their intention of leveling the pyramids and destroying the sphinx, the statue of Ramses the Great (carefully moved during the construction of the Aswan High Dam during the '60s), and any other ancient Egyptian site you can think of if ever they get a firm grip of power in that country.

                        I'm always still in trouble again

                        "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                        "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                        "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                          That's just it, they don't consider it part of their heritage. Sort of like how the Taliban didn't consider the Buddhas of Bamiyan part of their heritage when they destroyed them. They regard them as pagan symbols only worthy of being obliterated.

                          Many in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt have announced their intention of leveling the pyramids and destroying the sphinx, the statue of Ramses the Great (carefully moved during the construction of the Aswan High Dam during the '60s), and any other ancient Egyptian site you can think of if ever they get a firm grip of power in that country.
                          Reminds me of the people of Ferguson, who burned and looted their own neighborhood and terrorized their own neighbors in "protest"

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            It seems ISIS has just destroyed the 2,700 year old city of Khorsabad. It's the third city they looted and destroyed over the weekend. Glad to see nothing is being done about any of this...
                            "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." ― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Jesse View Post
                              It seems ISIS has just destroyed the 2,700 year old city of Khorsabad. It's the third city they looted and destroyed over the weekend. Glad to see nothing is being done about any of this...
                              I'm sure our Commander in Chief is busy picking out the perfect shade for his next red line in the sand.
                              Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

                              Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
                              sigpic
                              I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

                              Comment

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